Even if the very public rift between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama over the Iranian nuclear issue is a personal one, an Israeli official says that this clear difference of opinion has been growing for two years now while reflecting a deep disagreement on how to limit such a rising threat.
Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Minister of Intelligence, explained his government’s point of view, in saying, “From the very beginning, we made it clear we had reservations about the goal of the negotiations. We thought the goal should be to get rid of the Iranian nuclear threat, not verify or inspect it.”
While he says that he is aware of the United States’ approach of tying Iran’s hands for 10 years until a new generation gains power, and is a different country, Steinitz believes that this is dangerous because Iran still thinks like an old-fashioned superpower.
With the United States offering so many concessions to Iran, Netanyahu reached a conclusion that any deal struck would be bad for Israel and in a phone call, broke with Obama while also accepting an offer by John Boehner to address Congress in a bid to lobby against the deal.
Alternatively, the adminstration believes that the deal is clearly taking shape and while being imperfect is still better than any other alternative. What the deal includes is limiting the Iran program and monitoring its actions from time to time.
What has made matters worse, is with the administration angered by Netanyahu’s efforts to sabotage the government, information about the deal has been held back from Israel.
This disagreement finds its origin with the United States trying to reach a deal with Iran through Oman with the Israelis feeling insulted that this information was held from them.
Netanyahu, not being happy with the agreement, denounced it because it allowed Iran to enrich uranium.